In modern times, various advanced devices have been developed for catching fish. One such device is a spinning reel. A spinning reel includes a fixed spool with a mechanical line pickup to retrieve the cast line. An anti-reverse lever prevents the crank handle from rotating while a fish is pulling fishing line extending from the spool. Because the line does not pull against a rotating spool, lighter lures can be cast as compared with a bait casting reel.
When retrieving fishing line with a spinning reel, the bail housing, bail, and line guide of the bail (bail assembly) are driven to rotate about the rotationally fixed spool and serve to wind the line onto the spool. The rotationally fixed spool generally oscillates up and down to lay the fishing line down evenly on the spool during line takeup.
Bait casting reels are another type of fishing reel. In some aspects, the spinning reel is considered to have some advantages over bait casting reels. For example, the fishing line comes off of the spool more easily with a spinning reel as compared with a bait casting reel because the spool does not spin when casting. As a result a lure can often be cast farther. Also, bait casting reels often experience a casting backlash because of an over-unwinding of the line due to the configuration of the fixed spool.
While spinning reels may present some advantages over other types of reels, there are disadvantages to the use of spinning reels as well. For example, with spinning reels the line can be trapped underneath itself on the spool or may detach from the reel in loose loops of line. Various oscillating spool mechanisms have been introduced, as described above, which can minimize such problems. Another common issue with spinning reels is line twisting. Line twist in spinning reels can result from a number of causes, such as spin of a lure on the fishing line, the movement of the rotating wire bail against the line when turned by the crank handle, or retrieval of fishing line that is under a load, such as when the hook catches on a fish or some other underwater object.